R.D. Olson Construction recently completed construction on the Irvine Spectrum Marriott, a $120-million
full-service hotel. The 15-story property helps to fill a void for high-end product in the market..
Last year New York City-based MCR, the seventh largest hotel owner-operator in the US, acquired two Marriott hotels in
Lehi, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The
properties, which traded for $27.5 million,
are located in Salt Lake City’s Silicon Slopes
technology corridor—a key allure to MCR.

MCR has a $2-billion portfolio of 104
hotels with more than 12,000 rooms in 27

states and is known in its home town for co-owning the High Line Hotel in Chelsea with
the Brodsky Organization.

But lately the company, which just closed a
$300 million fund with $1 billion in purchasing capacity, has not been focusing on gateway markets. Rather, it has been concentrating on secondary markets, such as Salt Lake
City, Providence and Milwaukee. “We are not

The sector is riding high on strong fundamentals and rich deal
flow. But the competitive market is also driving owners to find
ways to distinguish their properties.